


Ground Rules

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [4]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Age Play, Anthony DiNozzo Sr's A+ Parenting, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Non-Sexual Age Play, Setting Boundaries, Tony and Gibbs make some rules of their own, head slaps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 12:19:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7934374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is at work when Gibbs slaps him upside the head. Now, that's not the first time this has happened, but this time, it's...different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ground Rules

**Author's Note:**

> I'm baaack! And working on more! And this time, I'm writing 3rd person limited with _Tony_ at the helm. _And_ DiNozzo, really. Both of 'em. You shall see why...  
>  Now, it's been a while since I've looked through this, but I did go over it a couple times, so it should be error-free. I don't have a guarantee, though, so apologies in advance.

It had been less than a month since Gibbs had first joined in on Tony's secret. In fact, it couldn't have been more than two weeks, though it was a slow two weeks at work, filled with cold cases. DiNozzo was pretty comfortable at his desk, reading cases over and chatting absentmindedly with Vivian Blackadder. Phones were being answered in the distance, agents were talking quietly to each other around their cubicles, and papers were being shuffled left and right. The loud orange walls were the same old eyesore they always were. It was just another day at the office for them, and Tony reveled in the small talk he could get between case file after case file.

Gibbs came in with the familiar scent of coffee drifting from his hand and Tony couldn't hold back the smile that was forming on his face. His little side was all too happy to have someone to look after him when he needed it, and that feeling wasn't about to leave. "Morning, boss," DiNozzo said, continuing to look through the files.

"Gear up, there's a dead petty officer," Gibbs ordered.

"Where?" Viv asked as she grabbed her stuff and stood up.

"Abby's lab," Gibbs said.

Viv looked over at DiNozzo and he just shrugged, jogging to catch up with Gibbs as the elevator door opened. "Abby's lab, boss?"

"Yup. She was mailed a head."

Viv stared at DiNozzo, and DiNozzo stared back as the elevator doors closed them in. What were they supposed to do with that information? "And it got through the post office?"

"Apparently she ordered a plastic skull and had informed the people who scan our packages to not be alarmed if they accidentally shipped it here instead of to her house like she requested. And someone wound up sending her a real head," Gibbs explained.

The elevator opened and the three agents walked out and into the lab which had become a crime scene. Abby was standing away from the package, grabbing gloves. Her music was off, but her cheery demeanor remained. "Hi, Gibbs!" she chirped. "I guess you heard about the head, huh? I was just going to examine the package and see if I could get any prints besides mine and the guys who scanned the package. The mailmen would be wearing gloves, it being winter and all, so hopefully I can get something to give us a lead..."

"Abby, _no_." Gibbs put a hand on her shoulder. "You just opened a package with a _human head_ inside. Go home. Take some time off."

The woman pouted. "Oh, you're no fun, Gibbs. Besides, who's gonna run the prints and look for evidence?"

"Abs," Gibbs said. "Go home. We've got this."

"I doubt that," Abby said. "You guys don't know the first thing about forensics! I should make a guide so other people can use the lab when you make me go home...that would definitely help keep the requests from backlogging!"

Gibbs led Abby out of the lab, nodding along as she explained a plan for a handbook for her lab, while Ducky walked in. "What have we here?" he asked when Gibbs returned.

"A severed head...and a pair of dog tags," Gibbs said, inspecting the contents of the box after putting on gloves. "DiNozzo. Take pictures."

DiNozzo pulled out his camera and began to record everything about the scene. Viv gingerly pulled out the head once the pictures had been taken. "Um...what do we do when this is obviously not going to fit in a body bag?"

"It may be a bit unorthodox, but I do believe we can just carry the head down to autopsy," Ducky said.

" _Great_ ," Viv said, voice laced with sarcasm. "So should I just carry this down now?"

"I don't see why not, I'll walk with you," Ducky said, and the two left, leaving DiNozzo and Gibbs alone in Abby's lab.

The silence was almost awkward. Almost. "I think this takes the cake for strangest case that I've ever been on," Tony joked. "What about you, boss?"

"Not the strangest," Gibbs replied. "Though the strangest one I've been on wasn't too much odder than this."

Tony laughed. Already he could come up with several different jokes about their situation, but he wanted to find the perfect one to tell Gibbs, and see if he could get a smile out of the man. Maybe the petty officer had an old headmaster, or was an organ donor who hadn't read the terms and conditions, or maybe he had just gotten in an intense argument and lost his head...no, wait! Oh! That one's perfect!

The pictures were all collected so that they could get a crime scene sketch if need be, and all the evidence was already there for Abby to look into, so really all they needed to do now was see if the name on the dog tags matched the man's head they had. "Aeron Hughes. Look into it," Gibbs said, inspecting the dog tags.

"On it, boss," DiNozzo said, heading to the elevator, though he didn't miss how Gibbs stayed behind, a scowl on his face.

"What've we got?" Gibbs asked, walking into the bullpen with coffee.

DiNozzo and Vivian stood, walking over to the TV that was getting just old enough that they needed a replacement, but not quite old enough for their request to be on the top of the list yet. The screen flickered in and out as Tony pulled up a photo of Hughes. "Aeron Hughes, went to high school out in California, but to college at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. This kid was going places, boss. High praise from his commanding officer, all his buddies agree that he was dedicated to his work...he was really getting _ahead_ in life."

Gibbs whacked Tony on the back of the head. Hard. The world seemed to temporarily stop as Tony registered the stinging pain that pulsed from the back of his skull in time with his heartbeat before everything started to move again, far too fast.

Tony yelped, and Viv gave him a curious look, but Tony was busy with the feeling that he was about to go completely little, rather than just feeling it enough to goof around. He needed to get out of the bullpen. Fast. "Oh! I just remembered! I left a file relating to the case downstairs! Gimme a sec, I'll go get it."

He rushed out of the bullpen before Gibbs or Viv could say anything and flew down the stairs into the basement, where the cold cases were kept. He kept running until he felt like his legs would give out on him, and sat down on the nearest empty space he could find--on the bottom shelf of rows and rows of cases. It was dead silent in the room, save for his breathing and quiet whimpers. He pulled his knees up under his chin and stuck his thumb in his mouth, wishing that the security blanket he kept in his desk could be something people wouldn't stare at him for bringing out. He really wanted it right now, seeing as it always had brought him much-needed comfort during anything his little side found hard to swallow, though he found it wasn't nearly as comforting as sitting with Gibbs (who he'd quickly begun to think of as more than just another caregiver, and maybe even as a papa) and just watching whatever was on TV or some movie or another.

And just like that, tears were falling down his cheeks and his breath was coming funny and all he wanted to do was go home. He couldn't believe that Gibbs had just hit him like that. DiNozzo was used to the concept. But Little Tony, who had begun to bleed through DiNozzo ever so subtly, couldn't believe that someone he saw as a good papa would hit him. Even if it was just a tap, and even if he did it to everyone. It hurt him, and not on the outside.

It reminded him of when Daddy got drunk, as he did once in a blue moon after a successful deal. He never had time for Tony, but he especially didn't have time for Tony then. If Tony did one thing out of line, he was usually spanked or smacked upside the head, and not as lightly as Gibbs usually did it. "Tony?" a voice asked among the shelves.

Tony stopped his sniffles as best he could, waiting with bated breath to see if the voice would come again, and if he could find out who it was.

"Tony, come out, please, it's just me." Gibbs. Tony wasn't gonna get hit again, was he?

A whimper escaped him against his will, and footsteps approached the shelf quickly. Gibbs crouched down to look at the boy. "Tony, there you are. Viv and I have been looking for you for at least half an hour! What were you thinking?!" Gibbs asked. "It took every threat in my arsenal to keep everyone from following me down here, just in case you were like this. Even Ducky was fighting back."

The boy giggled a little around his thumb, imagining the sight of Ducky fighting Gibbs tooth and nail through his words about looking for him, but quieted again quickly. He still didn't know if he was in trouble, and would rather not risk it. Gibbs reached out a hand and Tony tried to move back further into the shelf. "No," he said firmly, scowling at Gibbs.

"May I ask why?" Gibbs asked softly.

Tony sniffled again and took his thumb out of his mouth. "You hit."

"I--" Gibbs broke off as he realized what Tony meant. "Oh. Tony, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were in with DiNozzo on the joke. That's how I tell him that now's not a good time for whatever I caught him doing. I didn't want to hurt you. Either of you."

"Daddy hit sometimes, too," Tony admitted quietly. "He hit me harder than that. I just didn't think Papa would hit too."

"Papa?" Gibbs asked, eyes widening. He pointed to himself. "I'm Papa?"

Tony flushed and nodded. "Only if you want."

"It's fine by me, kiddo, but I wish you would have told me. Maybe then we could have set up some ground rules for this sort of thing when we're calm and both adults, because this clearly shows that we need them."

DiNozzo shifted and moved off the shelf, sitting on the floor in front of Gibbs. "We can talk now...uh...boss. You'd be talking to Adult Me and Little Me at the same time, though."

"I can work with that," Gibbs said. "So...DiNozzo. Let's get one thing clear. Whenever possible, what we do at home does not affect what we do at the office."

"I know. I have that rule for myself too. Sometimes it gets hard to keep it separate, though-"

"-In which case you'll tell me and I'll find someplace quiet for you to let it out however you need to until you can get back to work as an adult," Gibbs said. "And don't bother trying pushing yourself too hard, I'll nip that in the bud."

DiNozzo gave a half smile. "Okay. How about for another rule, you try and call me DiNozzo all the time unless I'm little or we're in a place where it's safe for me to be little? My brain will do the rest of the work, but it needs a clear distinction, and we need a method of giving that which won't give us strange looks."

"Fair. I try to do that anyway, but I'll work harder at it. Third rule, I will still head slap you sometimes. It's going to happen. But only when I know that you're an adult who can handle it, and if you don't think you can a certain day, then I won't even think about it."

"Sounds good. Fourth rule, we can add more rules as we go, and if a rule doesn't work we're allowed to chuck it in the trash."

Gibbs nodded. "That sounds like a good start. Now, in regards to the first rule, can you get up and be an adult now, or do you need more time?"

"I can do it, boss, don't worry," DiNozzo assured. "And I'll try to steer clear of puns for the rest of the day so you can't get at me from that angle. What are we going to say to the others?"

Gibbs shrugged. "You were looking for the file but couldn't find it, so you came down to the cold cases to see if it was put here by mistake. Neither of us know where it went."

DiNozzo nodded. "I can work with that."

"Good, and Tony?"

Tony glanced up nervously, but Gibbs just held him in a stare that said he didn't mean DiNozzo. "You can call me Papa whenever we're at my house, okay? I'd be proud to be called that by you."

Tony grinned. "Okay."

Gibbs stood and DiNozzo followed suit. "So. How about we finish up the day and then you can come to my house?" he offered.

"Sure," DiNozzo said. "I really like coming over, even if all we do is sit around in silence without the TV on. It's nice."

"Someday soon I'll find something else to do in addition to that. It sure won't keep your attention forever."

"That's okay, boss, so long as you don't lose your head over it."

Gibbs' hand immediately connected with DiNozzo's skull and the man laughed. "Okay! That was the last one."

"Promise?" Gibbs asked.

"You know I can't guarantee that," DiNozzo teased.

"I know," Gibbs sighed. "Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you."

"Well, just look at me!" Tony exclaimed as he walked toward the elevator. "You can't resist the DiNozzo charm."

"That's not what I'd call it."

"What would you call it, boss?" DiNozzo asked.

"The DiNozzo idiocy," Gibbs said with a smirk.

DiNozzo burst out laughing.


End file.
